Like a well-aged cheonggukjang (fermented soybean paste stew), the deeper you dig, the richer the flavor. This is how players describe 'Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack,' according to Director Kim Tae-gon. It means that while it may seem ordinary at first, the game reveals an unfathomable depth the more you play. There is no flashy marketing or a flood of new items immediately after launch, yet its app market ranking continues to climb steadily.

The career of Kim Tae-gon, Director of RedZingo Games, mirrors the history of Korean historical games, spanning from 'Chungmugong-jeon' to the 'Imjin-rok' series, 'Gersang,' 'Atlantica,' and 'Emperor of the Three Kingdoms.' In 2024, he left the security of a major corporation and used his own capital to establish an independent studio, driven by the urgent feeling that "if I don't do it now, I never will."

Business metrics are as positive as the critical reception. Director Kim noted, "My goal was to create a game that would be consistently loved for 10 or 20 years, and we are seeing the best metrics among all our products to date."

Among these metrics, the proportion of PC payments stands out. Even without dedicated PC marketing, about 40% of all users access the game via PC, with a similar share of revenue. Although the game was designed with mobile as the primary platform, the analysis suggests that users accustomed to RPGs have a stronger preference for PC play than expected.

What surprised Director Kim most after launch was the 'overheating' of user activity. To encourage early engagement, the team provided significant event-based support for combat, which led to combat frequency far exceeding expectations. Even after increasing gathering spots by 50%, they remain saturated. Consequently, balancing the in-game economy has become a core operational challenge. Regarding the ability to focus on "how to revitalize the economy" rather than "what to sell," he remarked, "That was a happy moment for me as a developer."

Director Kim identified the freedom inherent in historical subject matter as the key driver of this project. "When you use history rather than a famous IP, you don't have to worry about the original creator's perspective. Since the interpretation of history is up to each individual, there is a sense of freedom in implementing it as the developer sees fit without facing much criticism," he explained.

Director Kim considers the ability to implement his favorite style—a system where players raise multiple characters and drive fun through management—from start to finish as the project's greatest significance. He places more value on the fact that he "could make what he wanted, the way he wanted" than on the symbolism of returning to historical games after 30 years.

Another pillar of the game's depth lies in its interpretation of the genre. Director Kim defines his MMORPG style as a continuation of his work from 'Gersang' to 'Atlantica.' While typical MMORPGs focus on weapons and hunting grounds, he explains that this game focuses on the higher-level social and economic roles that encompass resource production and market trading. It is a structure where players manage generals and engage in economic activities, taking on roles as members of society.

He also has a clear view on the homogenization of the current MMORPG market, noting that differentiation is disappearing because the formula for success has become too rigid. When asked why he doesn't follow trends, he used the analogy: "You shouldn't run a Chinese restaurant if you don't eat jajangmyeon yourself." It stems from his belief that developers must enjoy their own work to confidently tell users it is fun.

The game's unique depth is also woven into its structure. Mini-games like Hwacha firing and sniping missions are attempts to capture two different perspectives on the Imjin War.

"The macro view of 3k men clashing against 30k at Haengjusanseong is objective, but it lacks emotion," he explained. "You need the experience of standing next to those soldiers and firing arrows to feel the presence and emotion." He added, "Allowing players to switch between the macroscopic view of a strategy simulation and the field-level view within one game is the result of our team's ambition to deliver both the total information of the Imjin War and the emotions within it."

The game captures the progression from the beginning of the Imjin War to the Battle of Noryang as faithfully as possible. It objectively covers lost battles as well as the perspectives of both the Ming Dynasty and Japan. On top of that foundation, it adds a fictional narrative where Joseon launches an expedition to Japan after the war. This structure of adding plausible fiction to historical facts is why users accept the virtual narrative without feeling it is awkward.

What supports this authenticity is historical research. The environment today is vastly different from 30 years ago. In the past, there were few relevant books and historical interpretations were rigid, but now, vast amounts of data can be easily cross-verified through the internet, YouTube, and wikis. Director Kim values the process of the development team studying and researching directly to make the knowledge their own more than relying on external consultants.

They also operate a system that acknowledges the possibility of errors and allows for corrections based on user reports. A separate forum for reporting missed topics is consistently filled with posts from history enthusiasts. "Users are scarier than experts," he says.

Can this game appeal to a new generation of users who don't know the 'Imjin-rok' or 'Gersang' series? Director Kim expressed confidence based on several clear reasons. First, unlike the era when people had to sit in an Internet cafe, mobile is the primary platform, so the game is designed for short, manageable sessions, intentionally lowering the complexity compared to past works.

Furthermore, he explains that the current generation has a higher sense of pride in their own history and culture than any other, making historical subject matter a draw rather than a barrier to entry. He also added the expectation that by filling the void in history education caused by changes in the curriculum, the attempt to discover and introduce lesser-known historical figures could feel fresh to the new generation. His goal is to replicate the flow of the movie 'The Admiral: Roaring Currents,' which expanded to 17 million viewers.

The game's depth is also evident in its economic system. When in-game prices skyrocket or plummet, Director Kim appears on live broadcasts to explain the situation and discuss countermeasures. It is a structure similar to economic officials intervening in interest rate fluctuations. He described this as "feeling like running a small administration."

His stance is that while the basic principle is market autonomy, minimal safety devices are necessary. He has set price ranges for the market, similar to upper and lower limits in the stock market. Since the real economy is based on a real-name system but in-game users are anonymous, he judged that tighter checks are needed. These ranges are set to avoid hindering normal users while keeping extreme speculative patterns by a minority in check. He plans to gradually expand autonomy based on future user patterns.

For an economic system to remain alive, the developer must not intervene. "Just as selling food directly in a shop would collapse the demand for rice, the moment a developer supplies high-value finished goods, the user's basic production activities lose their meaning," he said. Therefore, it is a strict rule that in-game resources are not sold as paid items (BM).

The Workshop problem is also approached by undermining cost-effectiveness rather than blocking it at the source. In an era of advanced AI macros, a complete block is impossible. Instead, they change the structure so that an environment that previously required 10 macros to turn a profit now requires 100, naturally inducing their exit. The judgment is that protecting the game ecosystem takes priority over short-term revenue.

This philosophy is also reflected in operational decisions. Through this week's update, the 'Auto Hunt Spellbook' will be removed. This is the result of the development team deeply empathizing with user feedback that having a separate restriction like a Spellbook, when combat frequency is already controlled by stamina (action points), constitutes double regulation. With this patch, users will be able to freely set the number of Auto Hunts within the range of their stamina.

However, this measure is not welcomed by everyone. For users who made and sold Auto Hunt Spellbooks on the market, one means of income has disappeared. Director Kim stated, "I acknowledge that in an economy-focused game, it is difficult to satisfy all users simultaneously with any measure. However, I judged that removing double regulation for the convenience of the majority of users was reasonable."

Another device protecting the economic ecosystem lies in resource design. The key is to create a structure where basic resources remain necessary even for high-level users. In typical games, the demand for basic resources disappears as characters grow. However, this game is designed so that as top-tier users focus on high-value activities, the consumption of basic resources like rice or iron actually increases.

As a result, the products of new users hold real value for high-level users, forming a virtuous cycle where beginners are welcomed. The anecdote behind this principle is that he deeply regretted designing past works so that basic resources became useless as levels increased.

Director Kim conducts live broadcasts 1-2 times a week and manages the game directly. "By communicating directly with users, I started thinking about what gift I can give them today rather than making business-based decisions," he said. He cited the ability to proudly say that he fixes features to resolve user inconvenience rather than to increase revenue as the most meaningful change.

Positive effects have also appeared at the organizational level. Because they must anticipate questions and prepare responses for live broadcasts, a healthy tension permeates the entire development team to ensure they do not lose the user's perspective. This is why he repeatedly expressed that sharing countermeasures for price fluctuations with users feels like "running a small administration." For him, the communication process itself is another game.

RedZingo Games intentionally reduced development and marketing costs. The judgment was that pouring in massive marketing costs leads to a vicious cycle where those costs must eventually be recovered through aggressive monetization in the first month.

The company Director Kim chose as a benchmark is Daiso. It is a model where word-of-mouth spreads due to reasonable prices and quality without separate advertising. The fact that 'Gersang,' which has been in service for over 20 years, is still showing growth in metrics is strong evidence for this strategy. "I have seen too many cases where the pressure to maximize short-term revenue ruins games that were painstakingly crafted over a long time," is his cold-eyed diagnosis.

Currently, naval battles are handled directly on the fields without switching to a separate combat (encounter) screen. In the initial planning stage, it was judged that there was no reason to use a screen-switching method for small-scale skirmishes because there were fewer types of ships compared to generals. However, as the proportion of naval battles far exceeded expectations, he is now in the happy dilemma of needing to increase the appeal of land content to naturally disperse users.

At the same time, there is growing demand from many users to gather ships and engage in large-scale naval battles. Director Kim revealed, "We are planning raid content where multiple users lead ships to fight large-scale fleet battles against AI or other users, but a specific schedule has not yet been set."

The direction of updates for the time being is also focused on depth. Rather than blindly piling on new things, the focus is on refining existing ones. As there is no small amount of feedback from users saying, "There is too much content, it's burdensome," improving convenience and supplementing safety devices for the economic system are the top priorities. Adding generals, expanding dungeons, and the latter half of the virtual history story will be released sequentially according to the roadmap prepared before launch.

Regarding concerns about the depletion of the Imjin War subject matter, Director Kim presented various expansion paths. Beyond the overall flow of the war, it is possible to focus on specific events like the Battle of Haengjusanseong or the Battle of Myeongnyang, utilize detailed subjects like the Pottery War or stories of prisoners, and even expand the era to the Manchu War. Myths, legends, and folktales of Joseon, Japan, and the Ming Dynasty can be naturally incorporated into the worldview, and international trade elements like exchanges with the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) or European merchants are also being prepared.

He is also active in utilizing virtual history. He adds plausible fiction, such as a story where the Japanese army lands directly on the southern coast of the Ming Dynasty instead of Joseon, or a scenario where Joseon receives a request for reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty. Director Kim predicted, "If we use this MMORPG as a platform and continue to graft on stories that could have happened at the time, there will be no limits."

The reason why such a heavy game is needed can also be found outside the game industry. Due to rising labor costs, increased research costs, and historical sensitivity, the conditions for producing epic dramas have significantly worsened. It is an environment where authentic historical dramas like 'Taejo Wang Geon' or 'Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-sin' are hard to produce anymore. Director Kim emphasized that companies like RedZingo Games can fill the void left by the disappearance of authentic historical content. This is why RedZingo calls itself a historical game development workshop.

Meanwhile, the next project, 'Jindallae,' is an RTS spin-off game derived from the Imjin War worldview and is currently in the R&D stage. The goal is to release an official version that supports multiplayer sometime next year, and it is being developed exclusively for PC due to the nature of RTS games, where the fun comes from busily operating the mouse and hotkeys with both hands.

The difficulty of monetization and securing a user base inherent in the RTS genre are realistic challenges. However, Director Kim explained, "The recent development of learning AI technology has allowed AI players to excellently compensate for the lack of users, which has become a solid background for this challenge." He plans to accelerate the development of 'Jindallae' in line with the time when the service of 'Imjin War: Joseon's Counterattack' enters orbit and stabilizes.